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Blaming the Wrong Thing

Text: Proverbs 3:1-8

I.Years ago, an incident happened that makes a good illustration. An older woman bought a
cup of coffee at a McDonalds, but not having a convenient place to set it, put it between
her legs. As she drove off, the coffee sloshed and she ended up with burns.

A.Whose fault was it? Is it the restaurant’s fault for serving hot coffee?

1.No because people, including this woman, came to buy hot coffee. People
don’t like lukewarm coffee.

2.The decision on where to place the knowable hot coffee was the woman’s

3.Yet it was the restaurant which was sued

4.In essence the restaurant was punished because in its clientele there were
foolish people.

B.Given any sizable group, you are bound to find problems and sins cropping up.

1.But is it the group’s fault or the fact that people sin?

2.Yet, there is a tendency to lump the blame against the group instead of
noting that we may have a problem with an individual.

C.As an example

1.There are hypocrites in the church. Is this something exclusive to the
religious body or do you find hypocrites in other groups, such as the
Republicans and the Democrats?

2.Do you only find mistreatment of other people in a church or does a
business have to deal with rotten employees also?

3.Are there only cliques in a congregation or does the local atheists also
have their share?

D.This is not a justification for sin or a call to accept sin. It is merely being logical
that in a group, there will be sinners - I Corinthians 11:18-19

1.That is because, even as we strive to avoid sin, we all fall prey to it at
times - I John 1:8, 10

II.Blaming God

A.I’ve had people tell me that they had turned away from Christianity because God
didn’t stop their spouse from leaving them

1.They blame following God for their woes.

2.Yet, was it the individual or God who chose to end the marriage?

B.Is it not God who says He hates divorce? - Malachi 2:16

1.So when a person leaves his spouse, is it because God encouraged it or
because he is being disobedient to God?

2.Why blame God for man’s disobedience? - James 1:13

C.When a loved one dies, is it God’s fault?

1.After all, God warned Adam and Eve not to sin because it would bring
about death - Genesis 2:16-17

2.Do we forget that the tree of life was in the garden and Adam and Eve
were told they could eat of it prior to their sin?

D.When a child is abused or killed, do we blame God for not stopping it?

1.After all, God is the one who opposes crimes against the innocent -
Matthew 18:6-7

2.Notice the same theme. People are going to sin – some in horrific ways

a.It isn’t God’s fault that people disobey

b.You can only partly blame the world because it promotes bad
behavior

c.But where the blame must squarely rest is on the person who
chooses to sin - Ezekiel 18:20

III.Blaming the Church

A.While I don’t know when it may happen, I can pretty much guarantee that
someone in the church will annoy me, insult me, or do me wrong

1.Does this make it the church’s fault?

2.The church teaches that we are to love each other - John 13:35

3.We are to strive to get along - Ephesians 4:31-32

4.So when disagreement arise, it is due to violating the churches teachings

5.Yet, people will leave churches, blaming the church as a whole, rather than
dealing with problem individual.

B.By the way, the sad thing is that leaving changes nothing. Any other group is
going to have a similar set of problems.

1.Unhappy people tend to bounce from group to group. Never finding the
perfect group.

2.And never staying to solve the problems.

IV.Blaming Religion

A.I began thinking about this lesson when I ran across an article whose author was
upset about a child molester being found in some religiously conservative group

1.The author started blaming all conservative Christian religions

2.I pointed out there are child molesters found in any sufficiently large group
– for example, in public schools -- so to say it was due to conservative
Christianity was a false accusation that showed the author had a greater
agenda than just child molestation. I was surprised that I was attack and
was told that the churches of Christ were the greatest offenders in these
realms

a.One, the churches of Christ were not involved in this particular
story

b.Two, no evidence was given that it is more prevalent in any one
particular group. (I know of only one religious group that has a
significantly greater incident of sexual abuse of children and it isn’t
considered conservative in its beliefs.)

3.Child molestation is horrible. As noted God is particularly angry about
these types of sins. But we can’t throw out reason because an emotion
stirring, grievous sin was done.

B.The second claim was that the religion is unable to deal with sexual sins. That it
requires expertise that is not found in religion

1.Pardon? Sexual sins are sins. The church’s mission is change the world
and remove sin.

2.Given the track record of modern psychology in affecting a lasting change
in people, I believe the evidence is the other way around.

C.The third claim is that sexual offenders can’t change.

1.I believe this is an outgrowth of the lie that homosexuals can’t change
their behavior.

2.The Bible states this is false - I Corinthians 6:11

3.Christianity is about the radical change of people - II Corinthians 7:10-11

4.If you believe people can’t change, then of course you won’t affect a
change. But Christ is in the business of changing lives completely and
totally.

5.Do we accept the wisdom of this world over the wisdom of God? - I
Corinthians 3:19-20

D.Are there child molesters hiding in the church? Yes. There are sinners of all sorts
in every group, given a large enough sample

1.But should the blame be on the religion that teaches against sin, or on the
sinner who violates that teaching?

V.To deal with problems, we need to be objective in pinpointing the source

A.We can’t be lax, thinking that sins can never occur here - I Corinthians 10:12

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